Here is Chapter 3:
Chapter 3: The Price of Elegance
The Red Ribbon outpost was reduced to absolute silence in under three minutes.
Ron stood in the center of the ruined courtyard, adjusting his dark tie while stepping over a pile of unconscious soldiers. The Red Ribbon Officer was trembling on his knees, clutching a briefcase packed with research files and blueprints.
"I-Impossible..." the Officer stammered, looking up at the young man who had just casually dismantled a fully armed battalion with nothing but dark lightning and bad jokes. "What kind of monster are you?!"
"Monster? Please, I'm a scholar," Ron replied smoothly, stepping forward and lightly plucking the briefcase from the officer's frozen hands. "I just happen to have very aggressive peer-review methods."
With a flick of his wrist, Ron channeled a burst of Frankenstein's dark aura into the officer's chest—not to kill him, but to knock him out cold.
CRACKLE!
A jagged, pitch-black needle of shadow energy pierced the dirt floor, bursting through the officer's radio console before dissipating. Ron grabbed the files, flashed a cheeky smile at the empty courtyard, and vanished into the treeline like a specter.
"Well, that was fun," Ron chuckled to himself, flipping through the blueprints as he walked into the jungle. "Now let's see what this 'Dr. Gero' guy is actually up to..."
What Ron didn't realize, however, was that Frankenstein's dark power wasn't ordinary energy. It was a living, parasitic aura born from centuries of forbidden dark science.
Where the black needle had pierced the console, a tiny, glowing drop of dark purple liquid lingered on the shattered circuitry, pulsing softly in the humid air like a tiny black heart.
Deep in the Subterranean Lab
Hours after Ron left, a small surveillance drone with a red badge buzzed silently through the smoky ruins. It hovered over the scorched ground, scanning the wreckage until its lens locked onto the pulsing drop of dark matter.
A mechanical arm extended from the drone, carefully sealing the dark fluid inside a containment vial.
Miles away, hidden deep inside the cold, desolate North Mountains, a pair of thick glasses glinted under harsh fluorescent lights.
Dr. Gero stared at the glowing vial on his workbench, his eyes wide with fanatical fascination.
> [Gero's Lab Log — Year 736]
> "The unknown intruder destroyed Outpost 4 in minutes. But he was careless. He left behind a specimen of his peculiar energy... It is unlike Ki. It possesses infinite density, cellular corruptive properties, and a dark intelligence of its own.
> The Red Ribbon Army must go into hiding. We will fall back into the shadows and rebuild. And with this 'Dark Aura', I will create a specimen that transcends human limits..."
>
Five Years Later — Year 741 (DB Calendar)
Five years passed in the blink of an eye.
Ron had spent his time traveling the world, perfecting his dual templates, and building a quiet life while occasionally checking in on the world's martial artists. With Shanks' 100% mastery and Frankenstein's growing synchronization, he felt practically unshakeable.
That was until he decided to visit a quiet, misty valley in the Northern Range, following rumors of strange, unnatural earthquakes.
"Man, the air here smells like ozone and bad decisions," Ron muttered, strolling down a dirt path while biting into a fresh apple. "Just the way I like it."
Suddenly, the ground beneath his boots shuddered violently.
BOOM!
The entire side of a nearby mountain blew outward in a fiery explosion of pitch-black and crimson energy. Rocks rained down like hail, and a pressure wave tore through the forest, snapping massive pine trees like toothpicks.
Ron didn't flinch, but his eyes narrowed as his Observation Haki picked up a suffocating, deeply familiar energy signature standing in the center of the crater.
> [System Warning!]
> High-Density Dark Energy Detected!
> Source matches: Frankenstein's Dark Aura (Corrupted Variant).
>
"Wait... what?" Ron blinked, staring through the rising smoke. "Did I leave the stove on five years ago?"
Out from the dust stepped a tall, imposing figure clad in heavy gray armor bearing the red RR insignia. But this wasn't a normal soldier. His veins bulged with black fluid, his eyes burned with a mindless, glowing purple light, and a violent aura of corrupted dark lightning surged around his body.
Beside the super soldier, a small holographic projection of Dr. Gero materialized, laughing maniacally.
"Ah, Ron... or whatever your name is," Gero's voice rasped through the speaker. "It took five years of hiding, but my work is complete! You were arrogant enough to leave your power behind, and now, Project SS-01 will use your own dark energy to crush you!"
The super soldier let out a guttural, bone-chilling roar, cracking the bedrock beneath his feet as black energy surged high into the sky.
Ron stood there for a second, looking back and forth between the giant dark-aura monster and his half-eaten apple.
"Okay, first of all, plagiarism is a crime," Ron said, tossing the apple core over his shoulder and sliding a hand toward the hilt of Gryphon. "Second... I gotta admit, you guys really know how to turn my own bad habits into a massive headache."
A razor-sharp grin spread across Ron's face as dark purple energy and red-black Conqueror's Haki began to crackle simultaneously around his body.
"Let's see if your little science experiment can handle the original recipe."